Book publisher Hachette brings down the ax

Hachette Book Group is closing its Business Plus imprint, citing market forces but not its bruising battle with Amazon.

Hachette Book Group, publisher of James Patterson and Malcolm Gladwell, has shut down its Business Plus imprint as part of a round of layoffs and restructuring that has also claimed several longtime top editors. The cuts come as the publisher remains locked in what seems destined to be a lengthy battle with Amazon over e-book pricing.

Founded in 2000, Business Plus will be folded into Grand Central Publishing, Hachette's largest imprint, the company announced Thursday afternoon. Business Plus's publisher and editor-in-chief, Rick Wolff, who was also its founder, was among the reported 28 employees recently let go.

Other high-profile casualties included Geoff Shandler, who was editorial director of Hachette's literary imprint Little, Brown; and Pat Strachan, who was a senior editor there. Mr. Shandler's authors have included Mr. Gladwell and Brooklyn novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, and Ms. Strachan's Rick Moody and Tom Wolfe.

article continues below advertisement

Among the business imprint's biggest titles were Jack Welch's Jack: Straight from the Gut, Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Hank Paulson's memoir On the Brink.

"These changes were in planning for months, and are in response to many historical and marketplace factors," she said, noting that the layoffs accounted for less than 3% of Hachette's 950-person staff.

Some former Hachette employees, however, were skeptical of the timing.

"I think it's safe to say that the Amazon damage did not inspire patience," said one.

Unable to reach an agreement with Hachette over e-book pricing, the giant online retailer, which controls 40% of print book sales, has been making many of the publisher's print titles hard to get on its site by delaying delivery for several weeks.

Hachette said it would continue to put out business books as part of its overall publishing program.

"Business books are truly mainstream," said Jamie Raab, president and publisher of Grand Central Publishing, in a statement. "GCP's major acquisitions in the business category are among our biggest nonfiction books each season. It is the right time to absorb Business Plus into the GCP list."

Upcoming titles from the Business Plus list include How Google Works by Eric Schmidt, the tech giant's executive chairman and former CEO.